'Peace-loving': What Tommy Robinson said about Hindus at London anti-migrant rally

Hindus in the UK were placed in the spotlight at a massive rally in London on September 13, where far-right activist Tommy Robinson, known for his harsh criticism of Muslims, described Indians, particularly Hindus, as a "peaceful, peace-loving migrant community.The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally, which reportedly drew around 150,000 participants, sparked sporadic clashes with police in central London. A few thousand people joined a counter-demonstration organised by Stand Up to Racism.Robinson’s praise for Hindus stands in stark contrast to anti-immigrant protests in Australia earlier this month, which specifically targeted people of Indian descent. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned those rallies, calling the groups involved “neo-Nazi” elements.

The UK has a large Indian diaspora, with 43 percent born locally and 38 percent having settled before 1981. In 2024, Indian nationals accounted for 25 percent of all visitor visas (549,249), followed closely by Chinese nationals with 24 percent (515,928).Following the ethnic tensions in Leicester in 2022, Robinson had vowed to protect British Hindus, even offering to mobilise “hundreds of men” to support them, as he told a right-wing Indian news outlet.

Last year, he raised alarm about what he called “a genocide on Hindus” in Bangladesh after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government. However, videos he shared of alleged attacks were later proven to be fake.In May this year, a police intelligence report cited by the Daily Mail noted growing links between far-right groups and Hindu extremists in Britain, based on a “shared hatred of Muslims”. The report, prepared by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said Robinson had engaged with Hindu organisations to push “anti-Muslim campaigns” and that “his presence seemed to be welcomed by the Indian media and a minority of British Hindus”.The NPCC stressed that moderate Hindus had strongly denounced any alliance between Hindutva supporters and white supremacists.Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has long been a divisive figure on the British right. He founded the English Defence League, a nationalist group notorious for violent protests in the 2000s and 2010s, and has served multiple prison terms. His latest conviction came in 2024, when he was sentenced to 18 months for defying a court order by repeating false claims about a teenage Syrian refugee who had sued him for libel.